Your window into the stories, history, and ongoing work to preserve Yosemite’s climbing legacy.

A Note from the Editor

We’re just over halfway through October already, and soft golden light is filtering through the fall foliage as the air becomes crisper and the days become shorter. October in the Valley always brings a distinct and poignant medley of slower reflection on a busy season, high-country transitions, and deep gratitude for the vibrant community that calls this place home.

The Dome Fire is finally 100% contained after having burned nearly 7,000 acres. Glacier Point Road has reopened to traffic after having been closed for firefighting operations. A brief low-pressure system brought welcome relief with a smattering of rain and cooler temperatures from overcast skies which significantly suppressed fire spread.

The Half Dome Cables have been removed for the winter. Wilderness permit centers are winding down for the season and transitioning to self-registration service during winter. Some facility hours around the Valley have been reduced, with earlier closing times than during the longer summer days.

Bears have been especially active this Fall as they prepare for winter, with several incidents where bears are being injured by collisions with cars. Remember to slow down and be mindful of wildlife while driving through the park.

As climbing season continues to pick up, take a moment to slow down and double check everything before going for it out on the rock. Increased climbing activity in the park means an increase in accidents and rescues. Lets continue to have a safe and exciting Fall season in the Valley.

See you out there!

Miles Fullman

Editor, YCA News Brief

YosemiteClimbing.org

Charlie Porter - the man, the myth, the legend.

The Visionary in the Beret: Remembering Charlie Porter (1950–2014)

Every now and then, someone comes along in the climbing world who quietly reshapes what we think is possible, puts up a string of impressive routes, and then moves on to pursue other things in life without asking for a shred of praise.

Charlie Porter was that person.

If you’ve spent any time looking up at El Capitan or climbing its walls, you’ve undoubtedly eyed one of his routes or climbed one of them. Back in the early 1970s, while most of the Valley scene was leaning into short, high-end free climbing, Charlie was busy pushing the frontier of big-wall aid climbing. He was a visionary who treated hard aid not as a tedious chore, but as a patient, creative art form—manufacturing his own specialized pitons, custom-milling aluminum blocks to fit wide offwidths, and taking on absurdly steep, blank headwalls that everyone else thought were unclimbable.

His 1972 solo first ascent of New Dawn on El Cap marks the beginnings of a lifetime of grand adventure. On day one, high above the deck, Charlie unclipped a haul bag only to watch it tumble into space. Unanchored, he barely stopped himself from going with it. Most sane folks would have fixed lines and bailed right then and there. Porter? He lost his sleeping bag, his hammock, and a chunk of his food—and stayed on the wall for another nine days anyway, sleeping in slung-together gear and wearing an Ensolite foam pad like a tunic.

Later that year, he teamed up with Gary Bocarde on The Shield, leading the infamous Triple Cracks pitch by stringing together 35 tied-off RURPs while Bocarde belayed off a single quarter-inch bolt and a Lost Arrow peg. Today the pitch is a relatively mellow affair with the advent of small cams and large beaks. Over the next few years, the line-up of first ascents he left on the Captain sounded like a modern ticklist of heavy-duty classics: Zodiac, Tangerine Trip, Mescalito, Grape Race, Horse Chute, and Excalibur.

But Yosemite was never going to be big enough to hold Charlie. He had a restless curiosity and a hunger for wild, remote places.

In 1974, he was in Alaska, putting up the southwest wall of the West Summit of the Moose’s Tooth (and carrying a monster moose antler to the top, just for the hell of it). By 1975, he was on Baffin Island, establishing what many consider the world’s first Grade VII route on the sweeping northwest face of Mt. Asgard—a solo campaign where he froze his feet in rock boots, licked his jumars to make them grip ice-coated ropes, and eventually had to slice his boots open just to make the ten-day starved crawl back out across the tundra. In 1976, he breezed past a siege-style Japanese expedition on Denali to complete the first alpine-style solo ascent of the Cassin Ridge, managing severe pulmonary edema at 19,000 feet with a handful of diuretics and sheer willpower.

Yet for all his world-class accomplishments, Charlie was notoriously unbothered by fame. He never bragged, rarely submitted detailed route reports, and largely let his climbs speak for themselves.

By the late '70s, Porter shifted his focus to Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. After a year-long solo voyage through southern channels in a modified rowing kayak—capping it off by rounding Cape Horn—he made Chile his home. He spent his final three decades as an accomplished mariner, glaciologist, and archaeologist, captaining his steel research vessel Gondwana to ferry scientists, climatologists, and climbers through some of the stormiest, most isolated waters on the planet.

Charlie passed away from a heart attack in 2014 at the age of 63. Here in the Valley and in cold mountain ranges across the globe, his legacy remains unmatched: a humble, unstoppable force of nature who showed us all how to dream bigger, push farther, and laugh in the face of a wild adventure.

Which Porter route is on your bucket list?

**In case you missed it, say hello to YCA Deputy Director, Katie Getz!**

The Yosemite Climbing Association (YCA) is pleased to announce the promotion of Katie Getz to Deputy Director, effective July 2026.

Katie joined YCA in March 2025 as Director of Programs and Development. In that role she led Yosemite Facelift, held each September and the largest volunteer event in any national park. She also served as director of the Yosemite Film Festival & Storyteller Summit, building the inaugural festival from the ground up. The festival presented more than 40 films at two venues over four days, along with panels and workshops. The second Yosemite Film Festival will take place in April 2027. As Deputy Director, Katie will continue to lead these programs while helping guide YCA’s overall operations.

Katie brings more than a decade of experience in and around Yosemite National Park. From 2017 to 2020 she served as Executive Director of the Yosemite National Park Child Care Center, leading the nonprofit that serves families of park employees and residents. Earlier, she was Program Manager at Gorman Heritage Farm, an environmental science educator with NatureBridge, and a team lead with Delaware North in Yosemite, where she managed retail departments for park visitors.

“YCA is so lucky to have Katie as part of the team,” said Jim Thomsen, Managing Director. “The 2026 Yosemite Facelift, with 1,700 volunteers, was productive, exciting, and fun. Creating a very successful four-day film festival in less than six months was a testament to Katie’s creative and organizational abilities. Her deep ties to the Yosemite community, her leadership style, and her energy make Katie perfect for this demanding position.”